Kurihara Ruins

Kurihara Ruins
Kurihara Ruins
栗原遺跡
General information
Type	Reconstructed pit-house
Location	Tokyo, Nerima Ward
Country	Japan
Coordinates	35°45′16.877″N 139°40′20.442″E / 35.75468806°N 139.67234500°E
Technical details
Material	Thatching and wood

The Kurihara Ruins (栗原遺跡, Kurihara iseki), shown on some maps as the Shirokita Central Park Kuirhara ruins, are the site of some ruins of a dwelling found in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, Japan. Today, a modern (1950s) reconstruction of a pit-house stands on the site and is registered as a historic site of Nerima Ward.

History

The ruins were excavated when constructing the athletics and exercise area of Rikkyo University (立教大学, Rikkyō daigaku) in 1955. The name Kurihara was that of a small administrative unit of a village that existed in the area. In a survey conducted between 1955 and 1956, stone tools made of obsidian were excavated from the red soil (Kantō Plain loam), and were found to be from the Paleolithic age. Jōmon pottery was recovered, and the site exhibits trace evidence of pit dwellings from the Yayoi through the Heian periods (300 BC–1185 AD). The replica structure depicts a pit-dwelling from around the beginning of the 8th century, the early Nara period (CE 710 to 794). The reconstruction was designed by Gaijiro Fujishima, then a professor at the University of Tokyo, in 1957.

Structure

The remnants of the dwelling were dug down to a depth of 50 cm, and four pillar holes and a clay pot were identified to the north. When restoring the house, Japanese zelkova was used for the main pillar, and Japanese cedar was used for the beams and girders. The pit-house is surrounded by a metal fence and it is normally not possible to go inside.

Image gallery

Covered in snow in March 2020
Panorama of the site
Rear (north side) of the site
East side of the site

References

Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s webpage about the ruins

External links